


we are the lost ones

by haetae



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Dysfunctional Family, Family Feels, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Uchiha Clan-centric, enjoy the ride, everyone may or may not be ooc, i am sorry if i get any canon characters wrong, no i am not sorry for it, or. at least what's left of the clan, yes this is one of those surviving uchiha oc fics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-09 23:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16458680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haetae/pseuds/haetae
Summary: A snarky reply is on the tip of his tongue but Yuunagi grits his teeth. This isn’t the sort of conversation he’s in the mood to handle right now, especially with an upcoming meeting with the Council that he has to go to in a few hours. He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs deeply, feeling like he’s aged ten years older. Taka rustles her feathers in concern.“He only has me now. I have to be strong for his sake.” he eventually gets out in a very quiet, soft voice.





	we are the lost ones

“Mommy?”

Her seven-year-old looks up with wide, obsidian eyes.

Komachi smiles fondly.

“What is it darling?” she asks, gently stroking her Yuunagi’s long, long dark blue hair.

“Can I be a shinobi?”

Her hand wavers for a fraction of a second.

“Why do you ask?” she replies instead, careful to keep her voice light and even.

But her Yuunagi catches on quick—and oh how her heart squeezes when Yuunagi’s wide eyes turn sharp like a hawk’s as if sensing some weakness. Komachi busies herself with braiding Yuunagi’s hair, her mind going over several possible answers as Yuunagi fidgets under her gentle hands. A long bout of silence passes between them but it’s a companionable, thoughtful silence as both mother and child deliberate their answers.

“Fugaku-sama said he’ll respect me if I become a strong ninja.” Yuunagi finally admits.

It thoroughly surprises Komachi when she doesn’t lose her composure. She can feel the beginnings of hot, unadulterated _fury_ burn just under her eyes but she coldly boxes away the emotion and sets it aside to deal with at a later time. Fugaku-sama may be the clan head but he has no right, _no right_ , to gauge the worth of _her child_ . So obsessed as he is with tradition and honor that he’s so _blind_ to poor Itachi’s suffering. She remembers that poor child’s cold eyes and suppresses a shudder.

Komachi doesn’t want to see Yuunagi grow up with bloodied hands and cold eyes.

She leans in and kisses the top of Yuunagi’s head. Komachi circles her arms around her child in a protective embrace, one that Yuunagi snuggles into. As she rocks gently, Komachi silently promises to always keep Yuunagi safe. One day, they’ll escape this place.

One day.

 

* * *

 

Yuunagi opens his eyes blearily.

He yawns so wide that his jaw cracks as he carefully stretches his back and limbs. The twinge of pain across his chest is more mental than physical as this point—the scars healed a long time ago. At this point, it’s just his body’s way of greeting the mornings. He smacks his lips as he crawls out of his bed and to his bathroom.

After getting cleaned up and ready, he checks in on Sasuke. Then he glares.

The little brat is still asleep. Yuunagi’s eyes wander to the stray kunai littered on the floor and feels his eye twitch. He’s going to noogie the brat _bald_ for staying up all night _again_.

“Oi,” Yuunagi calls. Sasuke shifts but stubbornly remains in bed. Time for drastic measures then.

He takes hold of Sasuke’s ankles and literally drags him out of bed, ignoring the kid’s sudden protests and useless flailing. Might as well give him a taste of the _real_ shinobi life while he’s still a squishy and naive kiddo. This is all part of Sasuke’s training and _definitely_ not for Yuunagi’s amusement.

“ _Yuunagi!!_ ” Sasuke bellows.

Yuunagi snorts and casually tosses him into the bathroom in reply. He might’ve taken a little too much delight in hearing the whelp squeal in outrage.

“If you’d gotten to sleep at a _normal_ time then you wouldn’t be this cranky in the morning!” Yuunagi snaps at Sasuke, hands on his hips as he narrows sharp eyes at the grumbling kid. “Next time, come home for dinner before you run yourself ragged with training.”

Sasuke looks like he’s ready to argue.

“But—!”

“Hm,” Yuunagi cuts Sasuke off and taps his chin in thought. “Maybe _Gai-sensei_ would like to—”

The little brat slams the door shut in Yuunagi’s face before he can finish the rest of that sentence. Yuunagi cackles in triumph before hobbling away to make breakfast.

When he enters the modest kitchen, he spies a familiar hawk just outside the window. Yuunagi unlatches the window and opens it to allow a proud Taka fly in and settle on his forearm. The hawk grooms herself primly before facing Yuunagi with eyes far too intelligent for any ordinary bird of prey.

“Any progress?” Yuunagi asks with a cool tone that sharply contrasts against his playful mood earlier.

Taka shakes her head. “Fuyuka and I lost the trail. Damn genius got wise pretty fast.”

Yuunagi’s lips tug downwards in a disapproving scowl. This doesn’t sound good. As he works through several possible routes the missing nin might’ve taken, he decides to shift focus for now.

“Anything else to report?”

If hawks could make expressions, he’s sure Taka would’ve rolled her eyes from how she sighs.

“Aside from the Naruto brat pranking another poor villager? Nothing that’s urgent or important.” Taka pecks at Yuunagi’s hair, making him yelp. “Adopt the kid already. What’s the hold up?”

Yuunagi rolls his eyes.

“Well, aside from you-know-what,” he casually replies, letting Taka hop down from her perch and feeding her a nice, juicy chunk of beef from the fridge, “there’s still… a lot of _stuff_ that needs to be addressed.”

Taka quickly swallows up her meal before staring at Yuunagi with an unsettling twist of her head. He tries not to shudder at the sight. Bird necks are freaky.

“Have you told him about seeing someone for his nightmares? There’s only so much you can do for him, yanno.” the hawk summon tilts her head in a different direction. “You’re hurting too.”

A snarky reply is on the tip of his tongue but Yuunagi grits his teeth. This isn’t the sort of conversation he’s in the mood to handle right now, especially with an upcoming meeting with the Council that he has to go to in a few hours. He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs deeply, feeling like he’s aged ten years older. Taka rustles her feathers in concern.

“He only has me now. I have to be strong for his sake.” he eventually gets out in a very quiet, soft voice.

Then Yuunagi senses Sasuke on his way downstairs.

He lowers his hand and looks at Taka. She looks back at him with a sad look in her eyes and he isn’t sure what to make of it.

“Thank you for your work, Taka-san. See you later.”

Taka nods and then disappears in a poof of smoke.

Yuunagi sighs again. Right. Breakfast. He shakes out the last vestiges of his sudden dark mood and busies himself in the kitchen as Sasuke toddles into the dining room with a sullen expression. Yuunagi would poke fun at it if he weren’t so caught up in his own thoughts.

“Hey Yuunagi?” a small voice pipes up.

He pauses in the middle of unwrapping the pork belly. Yuunagi blinks and fully turns around to see Sasuke staring up at him in his seat at a table that’s too big for two people. The older Uchiha cocks his head in interest.

“… Yeah?” he asks.

Sasuke squirms and fidgets but Yuunagi waits him out until the little one puts his thoughts into words.

“Will you… be there? For the graduation?”

Yuunagi softens. It almost slipped his mind entirely, what with all the running around he’s been doing.

“Of course kiddo,” he says and he means it. Then he clears his throat when Sasuke ducks his head again. “Hey. We’re making pork belly. Wanna help me cut the vegetables? You’re getting really good with your knife handling.”

At that, Sasuke perks up and immediately slides out of his chair. Yuunagi bites back a laugh and sets up a footstool for Sasuke to use—but Sasuke scoffs and nudges it out of the way. He can reach the counter now.

Yuunagi, on the other hand, tries not to snicker when Sasuke lifts the balls of his feet ever so slightly to get a better handle on the kitchen knife. The elder Uchiha sneaks in extra tomatoes in Sasuke’s lunch.

 

* * *

  

 _“Do you want to be just like your brother or do you want to be_ **_better_** _?”_

Sasuke drums his fingers on the desk, wondering if the librarian will help him find some scrolls about advanced ninjutsu techniques. Or, better yet, maybe he can find them on his own and somehow sneak the scroll out. He doubts that the suspicious ninja who works there would let him walk out with sensitive knowledge like that without the proper clearance.

But he thought himself above rules, didn’t he?

When Iruka-sensei calls on him, he drones out the correct answer in quiet monotone. The fangirls behind him squeal and the sound grates on his ears.

_“I… I…!”_

_“I want you to follow your_ **_own_ ** _path. Not the one that your brother forced you to follow! Tell me, what do you_ **_really_ ** _want, Sasuke?”_

Iruka-sensei herds the class towards the fields for sparring. It seems that they’re pairing up everyone against each other, even those from differing grades, for light warmup spars. The kids whisper amongst themselves excitedly but Sasuke only has eyes for the matchups. His mind works through his skillset and picks out the best and effective tools for victory when he scans the name beside his.

_“To… to be strong.”_

_“Everyone wants to be strong. Why do you want to be strong?”_

Sensei begins the match and Sasuke bursts towards Neji.

_“I… I-I want to be stronger to… to protect. I don’t want to lose anymore.”_

Neji makes a swipe at his unprotected side and Sasuke twists out of the way to avoid that deadly Gentle Fist technique. Sasuke retaliates with a feint to his left then striking out at Neji’s ribs with a roundhouse kick. They’re only allowed to use taijutsu but he can see some veins begin to swell more pronouncedly around Neji’s pale eyes and Sasuke curses. He can’t push back against the Hyuuga’s infamous impenetrable defense—but he can be clever and being clever is what gets a ninja and their team back home alive.

So Sasuke aims a kick to the groin.

His opponent goes down.

_“Good. Hold onto that.”_

He thinks of his cousin smiling at him with eyes shining in approval and bloodied teeth on That Day. Yuunagi will be really pleased to hear that he took the lessons on dirty fighting to heart.

The rest of the class gawks as Neji collapses with an agonized groan. Iruka-sensei rushes over to help Neji back up and fixes Sasuke with a stern glare. Sasuke just shoves his hands into his pockets and raises his eyebrows flippantly. What’s he gonna do, give him detention? Like _that_ stopped anyone from causing havoc and mayhem all over again. (See Exhibit A: Uzumaki Naruto.) Iruka-sensei seems to have read his mind because he makes an exasperated noise and rushes Neji to the infirmary.

Sasuke slouches and then he makes promptly makes himself scarce before the fangirls start to fawn over him.

 

* * *

 

Mitarashi Anko howls in laughter.

“They r-really―” She can’t finish the rest of that sentence without cackling.

Yuunagi throws a cushion at her face but she catches it easily even while wheezing from laughing too hard. He sighs deeply and flops back on the couch. T&I _really_ needs to invest in a good couch―psychological warfare be damned. This thing’s killing his back.

“The little uptight brat finally got the stick out of his ass, huh?” Anko teases and nearly bullies him off his seat when she sprawls on the couch beside him.

But Yuunagi is an Uchiha and the Uchiha are nothing if not stubborn. So he grits his teeth and puts up a valiant effort of protecting his domain, even as Anko encroaches on his territory by carelessly throwing her legs over his lap. He knows a lost cause when he sees one so he graciously (read: tiredly) allows the physical contact and falls back against the stiff, ratty cushions with another sigh.

Well, whatever. Yuunagi doesn’t have the room nor energy to play the nice Uchiha anymore.

“I’m just _tired_.” he finally snaps, dragging a hand down his face. “Suddenly everyone wants me to pop out kids like I’m some kind of baby-making factory.” Then he straightens up to imitate a particularly annoying coworker in an ugly, warbling, high-pitched voice. “ _Oh but you’re at that ripe age for_ **_love_** _! Don’t you want to settle down with a nice man and raise a family? You’re_ **_so_ ** _good with kids!_ ”

Anko lets out an impressed whistle. “It’s like I’m listening to the real thing. Really nailed Kaede’s simpering.”

He ignores her and slumps back into the couch, defeated. “It’s like they don’t even wanna acknowledge that I’m a _guy!_ ”

“Hey,” Anko barks, kicking at Yuunagi’s stomach lightly. Yuunagi nearly bowls over with a pained wheeze. Anko rolls her eyes at his dramatics and continues anyway, “Maggots aren’t worth your time. And ‘sides, those old fuckers can’t use you as a stud anymore. They might go after the littler brat though…”

Suddenly an ominous wave of killing intent settles over the room like an oppressive, eerie fog until Anko kicks Yuunagi in the stomach again. Yuunagi coughs violently and keels over again. The other occupants in the T&I lobby collectively breathe a sigh of relief before going about their business as usual.

(Somewhere, Morino Ibuki frowns deeply when his hand twitches and he accidentally severs a finger off the captive. Hm. Didn’t expect a killing intent that strong. He meant to cut deep enough to hit bone but whatever. Ignoring the captive nin’s agonized shriek, Morino grumbles and tosses the finger somewhere behind him before he continues interrogation.)

“Unfortunately,” Yuunagi says after he stops coughing up his lungs, “they’ll have to go through me first before they lay a finger on Sasuke.”

Anko’s lips tug up into a vicious grin. “Now _that’s_ what I like hear! No more of that passive bullshit you kept harping on about.”

Yuunagi rolls his eyes and doesn’t say anything else on the matter. Instead, he switches focus on something else entirely.

“Heard any good gossip lately?” he drawls.

Anko’s eyes light up in evil glee.

“Oh you won’t _believe_ the shit I’ve dug up…”

 

* * *

 

_“Pay attention.”_

Sasuke’s attention starts to wander from the instructor’s boring lecture about things Sasuke already knows. The annoying titters behind him grate on his nerves but, mercifully, there’s only another half-hour left before school is done for the day. He drums his fingers in a dull, monotonous pattern that matches the instructor’s cadence, wondering how much more of this he can take before striking out on his own. Then someone snores loudly enough to draw the entire class’s attention, including Sasuke’s. He turns to see a familiar mop of blond hair and quickly surmises that the idiot fell asleep in the middle of lecture.

Another loud snore from said idiot confirms his assumption.

The instructor sighs, snaps his book closed, and walks over to Naruto in slow, measured steps. The rest of the students hold their breath and lean forward in their seats as their teacher looms over a peacefully snoozing Naruto. Anticipation hovers in the air. And then…

_“Pay attention or you’re dead.”_

The teacher drops a thick textbook on Naruto’s head.

Even Sasuke winces (in his head because Uchiha never show any outward weakness or sympathy). But then he remembers his father isn’t here to scold him anymore (he feels equal parts relieved and terribly sad for some reason) so he lets his shoulders relax a fraction. (He won’t give the ache in his chest even the satisfaction of acknowledgement. Not when there’s still things to accomplish and families to avenge and protect.)

His mind wanders even as the instructor scolds Naruto and his gaze somehow lands on the Inuzuka in their class. That kid’s hood is up and he’s facedown on his desk. He’s most likely sleeping too.

Sasuke glances back to Iruka-sensei, who makes his way back to the front and completely misses the napping Inuzuka.

 _“If you only see what’s in front of you, that’s a quick way to die. Step back and_ **_look_ ** _before you leap, Sasuke.”_

_“… Do you think that’s why everyone died? Because they didn’t pay attention?”_

_His cousin’s face goes dark._

_“How can you pay attention when someone you thought was family stabs you in the back? You don’t see it coming till it’s too late.”_

_Yuunagi leans down and gently holds Sasuke’s shoulders._

_“Listen to me—I want you to be safe. That’s why I’m pushing you so hard. I don’t want to lose you either.”_

_Sasuke understands._

_“Yes Yuunagi-san.”_

_“Fuck’s sake, call me nee-chan or something. You’ve never had a sister, right? I’ll be your older sister now, okay?”_

He wonders if he can call Yuunagi nee-chan one day.

 

* * *

 

Sometimes putting food on the table means taking extra jobs under the table.

Yuunagi slips by the rendezvous point posing as a usual customer in the markets. He bumps into a plain, unassuming man with a beauty mark on his chin and curses under his breath as he spills perfectly good fruits all over the ground. Like always, he kicks up a fuss.

“Dammit, why am I so clumsy?!” he bemoans. (Seriously, they need a better meeting point than this.)

“Yeah, be more careful,” the man across from him retorts as he helps Yuunagi regather the fruits. Yuunagi shoots at glare at him.

“Actually, why don’t _you_ watch it?” he hisses. Then he snatches his fruit basket back from the man and stalks away with a melodramatic harrumph.

Yuunagi takes to the roofs and doesn’t stop until he’s inside his apartment. He puts up silencing seals and wards just in case.

Then he sorts through the bruised fruits in the basket until he comes across a small scroll.

It’s shorter than the length of his forearm but, thankfully, it isn’t thick and it seems that today’s mission isn’t _super_ difficult from the looks of it. A B-rank in the worst case scenario, C-rank in the best case scenario. He reads the objectives until he memorizes it and burns the scroll until nothing is left―not even its ashes.

Yuunagi swiftly takes down the seals and wards and burns those too. Better safe than sorry, especially with the shit he’s been up to.

He scribbles a note to Sasuke, saying to take care of himmself for three days max. His stomach twists painfully. He might go insane with worry and that's _useless_ on a mission. God forbid he leave Sasuke behind because he was too busy fretting over whether Sasuke ate his vegetables in the middle of a fight.

Yuunagi bites his thumb hard enough to draw blood and flies through the hand seals.

Boar. Dog. Bird. Monkey. Ram.

Then he presses his palm to the floor, fingers splayed out.

A large, black kite pops into existence.

“Hiwashi,” Yuunagi greets.

The bird nods. “Yuunagi-sama.”

“I need you to send a message.” he says. “Tell Senbon Mouth to drop off goods for the little one. Sorry for the burden.”

Hiwashi bows courteously. “Yes Yuunagi-sama.”

He nods, a little unsure of himself, then unlatches and opens the window for his hawk summon. With that, the kite takes off without another word.

Now for one last thing…

Yuunagi pads over to his room towards his nightstand. With shaking fingers, he pulls the drawer open to reveal a porcelain mask.

He swallows thickly.

_Sparrow-san._

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> i don't have a fucking clue what i'm doing my guy but have this fic that's been sitting in my google drive for the past few months or so.


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